I have written over on Fete and Feast about how much I love enchiladas and my quest to find the perfect enchilada in my now home-town of Austin. And while I spent many words waxing rhapsodic about red chile enchiladas, there’s plenty of room in my enchilada-loving heart for green chile enchiladas. In my experience, green chile enchiladas are a little mellower than their red counterparts, making them a great starter enchilada for those new to the dish or a nice change of pace from the more acidic red enchiladas or fruity tomato-based enchiladas. I tend to like my green chile enchilada sauce smooth and creamy, which means it’s often sour cream based, but I’ve come to enjoy Greek yogurt as a twist on that tradition. I’ve been making this enchilada recipe for about twenty years now and it’s never failed me. You’ll note that it’s filled with cheese and onions, my preferred filling for any enchilada, but if you take a look at the Recipe for Success section at the end of the post, I include some other ideas on what other fillings might go well with this ooey-gooey green sauce.

Recipe: Green Chile Enchiladas

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Serves: 4-6
  
• Prep Time: 30 min
  
• Cook Time: 25 min
  

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• ¼ c. butter
• 1 ¼ c. diced yellow onion, divided (about 1 medium onion)
• ¼ c. all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• ½ tsp. cumin
• 14 oz. chicken broth (1 can)
• 8 oz. 2% Greek yogurt
• 8 oz. roasted green chilies, chopped (about 1 c.)
• 12 corn tortillas
• 6 oz. queso asadero cheese, shredded (about 1 ½ c.)
• 6 oz. manchego cheese, shredded (about 1 ½ c.)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9″ x 13″ glass baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
3. Sauté ¼ c. of onion in the butter until soft but not brown.
4. Add the flour, salt, pepper, and cumin to the butter and onion and stir to combine. Continue to stir as the mixture bubbles, about two minutes more.
5. Pour the broth into the pan in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Raise the heat to medium high and continue whisking until the mixture bubbles and begins to thicken. Whisk for 3 more minutes.
6. Turn off the heat and add the yogurt to the sauce; whisk to combine.
7. Add the green chilies to the sauce and whisk to combine. The sauce will be very thick.
8. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Spread ½ c. of the sauce sauce along the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
10. Toss the queso asadero and manchego cheese to combine. Reserve 3/4 c. of the cheese.
11. Lay three tortillas on a plate so their edges are barely overlapping; microwave them for 20-30 seconds on high, or until they are soft and pliable.
12. Remove the tortillas from the microwave and lay them on a clean counter or on a sheet pan. Fill each tortilla with about 2 Tbps. of grated cheese and 1 Tbsp. of onion. Roll up each tortilla and place it seam side down on top of the thin layer of sauce in the prepared baking dish.
13. Repeat the heating, filling, and rolling process with the remaining tortillas, cheese, and onion.
14. Pour the remaining green chile sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas and use a spatula to spread it evenly across the top. Push the sauce down between the tortillas as well so it covers them on all sides.
15. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and any leftover onions on top of the enchiladas.
16. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.
17. Remove the foil from the dish and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until the sauce bubbles and the tops of the enchiladas begin to brown lightly.
18. Remove the pan from the oven and let it rest in the baking dish for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe for Success

• I like the tartness that Greek yogurt adds to the dish. The fact that it is good for you and not weighed down with calories is a bonus. You can substitute regular plain yogurt or even sour cream for the lower fat Greek yogurt.
• I prefer to use thin corn tortillas for any enchilada preparation. The thicker tortillas bring too much tortilla to the party and eclipse the other ingredients.
• If you can’t find queso asadero, a Mexican melting cheese, you can substitute Monterrey Jack instead. I like to use a mix of the melting cheese and manchego cheese for a more complex flavor profile. For simplicity’s sake though, you can simply use 10 oz of either Monterey Jack or queso asadero.
• I like to work with tortillas three at a time because they all stay warm enough to be pliable. If I try to work with more than three, the last couple have cooled down by the time I’m ready to roll them and they inevitably break.
• The full cup of chopped chilies gives this dish a very robust green chile flavor. You can reduce the chile by up to half for a less intense chile flavor or, to heat things up a bit, combine hot and mild chilies.
• You can prepare the dish all the way through step 16 up to eight hours ahead and refrigerate the prepared enchiladas. Remove the cold dish from the oven 30 minutes before you’re ready to put it in the over and then proceed with baking the enchiladas at 425 degrees.
• While I’m a firm believer that enchiladas should only be filled with cheese and onion, this recipe adapts easily to other fillings. Shredded chicken or tender pork would be a great place to start, as would grilled vegetables or sautéed spinach. You could also fill these with crab or shrimp for a seafood variation.

You may have seen palmiers in a bakery as a sweet treat, with the layers of puff pastry filled with sugar and butter, but they are equally tasty in savory form. Great fillings for palmiers include (but are not limited to)

• Herbs and spices
• Harder cheeses like cheddar and parmesan
• Soft spreadable cheeses like goat cheese
• Cured meats like prosciutto
• Cooked spinach
• Spreads like tapenade and pesto
• Sun dried tomatoes

For this recipe I made a green chile pesto and paired it with creamy Monterey Jack cheese and aged manchgo, a firm cheese similar to parmesan in texture, and Serrano ham, which is essentially the Spanish version of prosciutto. The result is lovely blending of flavors with the green chilies proving a subtle heat and chile undertone that’s nicely balanced by the creamy cheese and the salt of the ham. Unlike my Green Chile Macaroni & Cheese recipe, these palmiers won’t beat you over the head with their green chile flavor, making them perfect for those who are new to green chile. Green chile aficionados will still appreciate the familiar flavor and may be pleasantly surprised to find green chilies used in this way.

Puff pastry is one of my entertaining secret weapons. It’s versatile, easy to work with, and impressive. For many years puff pastry was a bakery specialty because there weren’t very many good pre-made options. Today however, several food companies have perfectly acceptable packaged puff pastry offerings that you can find in the freezer section at your local grocery store. I typically use Pepperidge Farm because it’s consistent from package to package.

Recipe: Green Chile Palmiers

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Makes: About 24 palmiers
  
• Active Prep Time: 20 minutes
  
• Rest Time: 30 minutes
  
• Cook Time: minutes
  

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about ½ c.)
• 1.5 oz. aged manchego cheese, shredded (about ½ c.)
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
• Scant ¼ c. green chile pesto (recipe to follow)
• 1.5 oz. thinly sliced Serrano ham (about 3 slices)

Instructions

1. Combine the cheeses, cumin, coriander, oregano, and salt in a medium bowl and toss to combine well.
2. Lay the puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a 9 x 10.5 inch rectangle.
3. Spread the green chile pesto evenly over the puff pastry leaving a border of about ¼ inch on all sides.
4. Sprinkle the cheese and spice mixture evenly over the pesto.
5. Lay the slices of ham over the cheese, cutting them as needed to cover the cheese mixture evenly.
6. Starting with one long side, roll the pastry over the filling into a tight spiral, stopping when you reach the mid-point of the pastry.

   Roll the other side of pastry over the filling until it meets the first roll.

7. Using wet fingertips or a wet pastry brush, brush the pastry where the two rolls meet lightly with water and press them lightly together to seal.
8. Gently transfer the rolled pastry to a cookie sheet and freeze for at least 30 minutes until firm and easy to slice.
9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
10. Cut the rolled pastry into ¼ inch slices and place an inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Gently shape each slice to make any square corners rounder.
11. Transfer to the hot oven and cook for 13-15 minutes until the pastry is puffed and the cheese melted. Remove from oven, transfer to a serving dish, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe for Success

• You can prepare the recipe through step nine up to three days in advance and freeze the rolled and filled puff pastry wrapped tightly in a double-layer of plastic wrap. When you’re ready to slice and bake the palmiers, set the frozen pastry on the counter for about 15 minutes and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
• You can easily double this recipe to use both sheets of puff pastry that typically come in a package.
• If you can’t find Serrano ham, you can substitute prosciutto or any other thinly sliced dried ham.
• If you can’t fine manchego cheese, any other firm Spanish cheese or even parmesan will do in a pinch.
• Don’t worry if the uncooked palmiers look like scrunchy faces instead of smoothly curved pastry. When the pastry cooks, it will flesh out and become nicely rounded.

Recipe: Green Chile Pesto

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Makes: 1 ½ – 2 cups
  
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
  

Ingredients

• ¼ c. toasted pine nuts
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 c. whole green chilies, roasted, peeled, and seeded
• 1.5 oz. aged manchego cheese, shredded (about ½ c.)
• 4 Tbsp. grapeseed oil
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper

Instructions

1. Combine the pine nuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process for 10-20 seconds or until the garlic is chopped into small pieces.
2. Add the green chiles and manchego to the bowl of the processor and process with on/off turns until the mixture forms a paste.
3. With the processor running, gently stream the grapeseed oil into the bowl.
4. Scrape the pesto into a small bowl then stir in the salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Recipe for Success

• This pesto resembles hummus more than it does traditional pesto because the pine nuts and manchego cheese tone down the green in the cheese. Once you taste it, you’ll know it’s absolutely not hummus. This pesto is a nice alternative to using green chilies on their own because it brings a more subtle green chile taste to a dish where you don’t want to the chilies to overpower the other ingredients.
• You can substitute canola oil or any other flavorless vegetable oil for the grapeseed oil.
• Store the pesto for 3-5 days in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap.
• You can serve this pesto as a dip with tortilla or pita chips, tossed with pasta and some additional cheese and cherry tomatoes, or even in a quesadilla. You could also serve it over (or under) grilled chicken or roast pork. Let your imagination go wild.

When I was a youngin’ growing up, my family always had a garden. My grandmother was an amazing gardener, having been the daughter of a farmer and a child of the depression, and really had a great knack for growing just about anything she put her mind to. I’m sorry to say that I did not inherit/learn/grok her gardening skills. I would even go so far as to say I have a black thumb, which is why this blog’s tagline is “Party and Eat” as opposed to “Plant and Grow”. But even though I can’t grow them, I enjoy cooking with seasonal ingredients. Its summer time in Texas and that means squash in abundance, and some cases over abundance if I’m being honest. You can’t swing a cat at the farmers market or grocery store without hitting a big ol’ pile of squash, but from my perspective that’s a good thing. Squash is versatile, colorful, and inexpensive so it’s one of my favorite summer foods.

As long as I’m being honest, I’ll confess that as kid I didn’t much like squash. When it was in season, squash of every shape, size and color it made an appearance on our dinner table once or twice a week and every time I passed it by. In retrospect, I was clearly missing out. Not surprisingly my child does the same, but I hope that one day she too will enjoy squash in all of its glory. Until then, I’ll eat her serving.

Calabacitas?

I developed my stuffed squash recipe as a twist on one of my favorite dishes from Paula Lambert’s Cheese, Glorious Cheese cookbook, Squash Calabacitas. In her recipe, Paula sautés slices of green and yellow summer squash with some onions and then mixes the whole thing up with corn kernels, tomato, and Hatch green chiles. She tops the dish off with a healthy handful of Colby cheese for an ooey-gooey squashy paradise. Growing up, my family made a very similar dish with the squash and tomatoes from our garden, along with fresh green chiles we’d picked ourselves in Hatch. The flavors in this dish whisk me back home to my childhood kitchen faster than you can say “calabacitas”.

For my take on this recipe, I create a stuffing of the corn, tomatoes, and onions, with ground up corn tortillas thrown in as a binder. I add in a bit of dried ancho chile powder for a spicier flavor, and I use manchego cheese instead of Colby because I like the complexity it brings to the dish. The dish is great for serving at a dinner party because you can stuff the squash ahead of time and then put them in the oven to roast pretty much unattended until they are ready to serve. This squash is a great side for your favorite cut of steak grilled to perfection and topped with Chipotle Cilantro compound butter.

Recipe: Squash Stuffed with Corn, Tomatoes, Green Chiles

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 6 (½ stuffed squash per person)
• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 3

Ingredients

• 3 medium zucchini squash
• 2 thin corn tortillas
• 2 tsp. ancho chile powder
• 3 oz. manchego cheese, cubed plus 1 oz. shredded manchego cheese
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium shallot, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 c. fresh corn kernels
• 2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 4 oz. chopped green chiles
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice the top ½ inch from the squash. Split in half horizontally and scrape out the seeds.
3. Bring enough salted water to cover the squash halves to a boil. Drop the halves into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Remove shells from boiling water; nestle close together in a glass baking pan, and season with a little more salt and pepper.
5. Tear the corn tortillas into large pieces. Add them to the bowl of a food processor along with the chile powder and the cubed manchego cheese. Pulse until the mixture resembles very coarse cornmeal.
6. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan.
7. Cook the shallot and red onion until soft and starting to become translucent, about 5 minutes.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the corn, tomatoes, and green chiles. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes.
9. Combine the tortilla mixture with the sautéed vegetables. Check for seasoning; add salt and pepper to taste.
10. Mound some of the stuffing into each squash half.
11. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes
12. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the shredded manchego cheese, and return to the oven. Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

Recipe for Success

• This recipe works well with any sturdy summer squash that has a bit of size to it. I haven’t tried it yet, but I expect it would work well with acorn squash as well in the fall. Bigger, thicker squash may need more time to bake.
• To make this a main dish, cook and drain hamburger meat or chorizo, or a combination of both, to add to the stuffing. Serve two halves as a main course with a green salad.
• You can use frozen corn for this recipe if fresh isn’t available. Thaw the corn and drain it well before using.
• You can make this dish 4-6 hours before you’re ready to bake it. Make the recipe from steps 2-10 and refrigerate the stuffed squash. Let the squash sit out for about 15 minutes before finishing with steps 11 and 12.

Learn more about summer squash

Recently I’ve had two opportunities to connect with some amazing Austin chefs: the Hill Country Wine and Food Festival VIP lounge at the Stars Across Texas event and a recent blogger happy hour event at the acclaimed Parkside restaurant. Beyond experiencing some absolutely amazing food, I wanted to take the opportunity to get some insight from the chefs on how they select dishes for events like these. Tastings are very much like open houses and other nibbly-bits parties that home cooks throw, so I was pretty sure that I would walk away with some useful tips on how to select food for a crowd that I could use at when prepping for my next big party. The chefs didn’t disappoint. It turns out they face some of the same dilemmas I do when prepping for a party including:

• Managing the food preparation along with other responsibilities. Every chef I talked to was working the tasting on a busy night at their restaurant so they were juggling resources at both locations and having to work the prep for the party into their standard dinner service activities. Funny, I run into similar issues when I’m throwing a party. While I might take a day off to cook for a fairly large party, typically I’m managing preparation for it along with every other day-to-day responsibility.
• Restrictions on preparation and service space. At the wine and food festival event, each chef had four long tables on which to work and serve. They had to bring chafing dishes to keep food warm if necessary and coolers to keep food cold. Their plating and serving areas were small and crowded with people. Think back on your last party – didn’t you experience the same issues? At the Parkside event the chef had access to his own kitchen, just as I do at a party, but he wasn’t serving food in the standard ways or times as he typically does, just as happens to me when I throw a party.
• Satisfying guests’ pallets. Each chef had to think carefully about how to create an amazing one-bite experience for tasters in a way that both represented their restaurant’s style and catered to the pallets of those at the tasting. At the Parkside tasking the chef had to do that 8 times to show the breadth-and-depth of his menu. When I plan a menu for a finger-food party, I too want to create great one-bite experiences that my guests will enjoy and that fit within their overall taste preferences, and the combine all of those one-bites into a menu that works well together. I want to reflect well on my own skills but ultimately the goal is to make the taster’s happy.

So given that professional chefs run into the same sorts of issues that home cooks do when it’s time to feed a crowd, what can we learn from their years of experience with such things?

• Make everything one bite. This simple but key advice comes from chefs Stewart Scruggs and Mark Paul of Zoot. What makes this particularly interesting is their offering that night was fried wonton wrapper filled with cabbage and topped with a marinated slice of beef tenderloin. It was exceptionally tasty but actually larger than one bite and I heard more than one person comment that it was bigger than they would have liked. When I talked with the chefs, they admitted were they to make the dish again they would make it smaller so it would be easier to eat. This doesn’t mean that you have to turn out thousands of mini-dishes for a party. Bread slices, dips, cheese, fruits and veggies, and a variety of other foods can all be managed in a single bite as long as you prepare them the right way. A previous blog post I put together on a holiday party menu shows this philosophy in action.
• Choose food that is easy to eat and prepare. Chefs Teresa Wilson and Robert Brady from Aquarelle provided this advice that is in line with the recommendations from the Zoot crew but also adds the element of easy preparation. Keeping with this philosophy, the chefs offered new potatoes topped with shrimp and drizzled with a blue cheese sauce. For the Stars Across Texas event each restaurant only had to prepare one item, but when I’m throwing the party I’m on the hook for almost all of the food so ease of preparation is even more important. To me, an easy-to-prepare recipes has a manageable ingredient list (say no more than 7 or 8 ingredients), includes prep-ahead elements, and doesn’t require extensive plating or assembly. My recipe at the end of this post, Tiny Twice-Baked Chorizo and Manchego Potatoes meets all of these criteria.
• Focus on what’s fresh and available. Chef Tristan White from Asti offers this advice which is particularly important if you’re interested in avoiding processed food and supporting local and sustainable agriculture. His offering at Stars Across Texas was the epitome of this advice: bruschetta with fava bean puree, ramps, and crispy guanciale. The fava beans and ramps were a beautiful green and just screamed “spring” to the eyes and taste buds. While I can’t base every single dish at a party on fresh and local ingredients – budget and time are at issues as well – I do try to include them were practical and in at least one or two star dishes.
• Be ready to be flexible. At the Parkside tasting, chef Shawn Cirkiel reminded me that flexibility has to be part of your vocabulary if you’re planning to feed a slew o’ people. The night of the blogger party he was short staffed and having to serve a full restaurant along with the blogging hoard. If he hadn’t told us though, we never would have known. His menu was expertly executed because he adjusted to circumstances by tweaking dishes and preparation approaches. In the end, guests are there for whatever great food you serve them, not the great food you’d planned to serve them.
• Make what you like. Every chef I talked to at the Stars Across Texas Event and at the Parkside tasting offered this pearl of wisdom in some form or another. In the end, cooking and entertaining are a creative expression of the chef’s passion. While I always try to keep my party guests’ likes (and dislikes) firmly in mind, in the end I cook food that I like for parties because I want to share what I enjoy with others.

More About These Great Foodie Events

Before I jump into one of my tried-and-true entertaining recipes, here are some links to other articles and posts about both the Stars Across Texas event.

• Relish Austin’s take on Stars Across Texas with a heavy focus on tartare
• A plethora of images from the Stars Across Texas tasting
• VintageTexas excellent run-down of everything to be had at the Stars Across Texas tasting

If you’re in Austin as a local or just as a visitor, you really should make a point to visit Parkside. The restaurant is bright and comfortable, and the food is just incredible. The chef’s focus on fresh ingredients, particularly raw seafood, shows in every dish. I’ve reviewed a few of my favorite offerings from the tasting and a previous visit on Dishola, and my fellow bloggers have some nice things to say as well.

• Maggie’s Austin tale of the Parkside tasting
• Crystal’s description of the event plus some fun pictures on poco-cocoa
• Eating in a Box’s take on the event, also with some great pics of the food
  

Recipe: Tiny Twice-Baked Chorizo and Manchego Potatoes

Stuffed single-bite potatoes are great for any party because they hold well, can be made ahead of time, and the basic recipe is really a blank slate for just about any savory flavor combination you can come up with. My favorite is Spanish-inspired chorizo and manchego, but you could be more traditional with cheddar, bacon, and chives or even think ballpark with chile and cheese. Really, if you would put it on a baked potato, you can put it in this twice-baked potato recipe.

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: Makes 30
• Active Prep Time: 45 min
• Inactive Prep Time: 45 min
• Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients

• 30 small red or white potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 8 oz. good quality manchego cheese, shredded
• 5 oz. Spanish chorizo, diced
• 1 c. crème fraiche
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chives for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Toss the potatoes with olive oil then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Spread the potatoes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 40 – 45 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Cool the potatoes until you can easily handle them.
5. Cut the top ¼ off of each potato and discard. Use a small spoon or tiny melon-baller to scoop the flesh from each potato, leaving the skin as a “bowl” to refill later.
6. Put the potato flesh in a mixing bowl and return the skins to the baking sheet.
7. Combine the potato flesh, shredded cheese, chorizo, and crème fraiche in the mixing bowl and stir until smooth(ish). Taste and add salt and pepper as needed for seasoning.
8. Stuff each skin with the potato mixture, mounding the mixture on top of each skin.
9. Return the potatoes to the oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until heated through.
10. Snip chives over the potatoes for a pretty garnish.

Recipe for Success

• You can make the potatoes through step 8 up to 24 hours in advance. Cover the potatoes on the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Set out about 20 minutes before baking to allow the potatoes to come to room temperature before you put them in the oven.
• These potatoes hold their heat well for a party, but if you can, serve them in a warming dish so the cheese stays gooey and melty.

Learn more about manchego cheese

Last weekend a bunch of Austin food bloggers got together to share great food and to make real world connections. A wonderful time was had by all at Penny De Los Santos’ beautiful home as we tasted the most amazing range of food from curry-spiced cookies to vegan samosas from the owner of local Kula Catering to some of the best tacos I’ve had in a very long time from Mando of Taco Journalism. Some of the attendees have put together fantastic recaps of the event with some amazing photography, so I’m going to leverage (that’s marketing speak for be really lazy and not do it myself) their posts for those who want a download on the day’s activities:

• Addie Broyles, Statesman food writer goddess and organizer of local bloggers (and this event) put together a lovely recap and gets extra points because she included a really big picture of my sunflower and goat cheese dish in her post aptly titled: Who woulda guessed? Food bloggers like potlucks.
• Logan from Boots in the Oven makes reading about the event almost as fun as being there. He also does justice to the beauty of Penny’s house in both pictures and words.
• Michelle Cheng’s photo gallery showcases the variety of the food and the bloggers behind it.

All-in-all the event was very satisfying for both the stomach and the soul.

However, when I first accepted the invitation for the party the first thing I experienced was…anxiety. Not only was I going to have to cook for a collection of food bloggers whom I respect for both their food and writing prowess, but I had to cook for a potluck which in-and-of-itself has a whole collection of issues to contend with. For about two weeks I was truly flummoxed. And then, as if my mental hamster wheeling over the food blogger event wasn’t enough, I was invited to an Easter potluck to be held a short week later.

Typically menu planning and recipe selection come easily to me. My biggest challenge is usually excluding dishes I want to make to create a menu that’s manageable for me and my guests’ pallets. After some thinking about why I was thrashing about these two potlucks so extensively, I realized that the nature of a potluck was really to blame.

The Problem with Potlucks

Don’t get me wrong, potlucks are great for a whole host of reasons:

• The host doesn’t have to bear the whole burden for cooking (and financing) the event.
• A range of food and culinary styles come to the table to create what can be a truly great experience.
• Their communal nature helps set the stage for party goers to connect. Everyone at the party has at least one thing in common: prepping a dish for the party.

Even so, when it comes to prepping food for the party, potlucks present a not-so-nifty collection of challenges:

• The food has to be prepped ahead. This narrows the possibly recipes down considerably. Recipes that include the words “serve immediately” are out.
• The food had to hold for both transport and serving. When you combine transit time, milling time when you first get to the party, and the time it takes everyone to serve themselves at a party, potluck dishes need to be able to hold their own for quite a while. In my mind, this immediately eliminates any food that uses mayo or eggs, and possibly chicken depending on the preparation because the last thing I want to do is make give a whole group of people food poisoning. I can hear it now “Oh yeah, that was the food blogger event when the Everyday Foodie made us all sick”. Ugh.
• The food has to travel well. Unless you’re hosting the potluck (and then you’re in your own kitchen and none of this really applies to you) you have to get the food from point A to point B more-or-less in good shape, so delicate or fragile food may not be the best choice.

The good news is all of these challenges are completely manageable with just a little know-how and planning. As I finalized my plans for both the food blogger and Easter potlucks, I kept track of the tactics I employed to overcome potluck problems and find the perfect dishes for each occasion.

Potluck Solutions

In the end, surviving a potluck comes down to following a few simple strategies:

• Let the ingredients be the star. A defining characteristic of potlucks are lots of different dishes that may not necessarily go together well. Rather than add fuel to the fire with a complex dish, consider recipes with 5 or fewer ingredients and then buy the best possible ones you can lay hands on and/or afford.
• Choose recipes that do well at room temperature. Cheese dishes are great for a party because cheese is actually best at room temperature. Cured meats, nuts, veggies, and some hearty fruits also do well at room temperature. Vinaigrettes are the best dressings for potlucks because they handle sitting out much better than mayo-based dressings.
• Select recipes that can be prepped ahead. The last thing you want to be doing while you’re trying to get out of the house for a party is cooking a full recipe from start-to-finish. If you can put most or all of a recipe together 12-24 hours in advance you’ll have the time you need to focus on a great dish and prepping for the party.
• Make enough for everyone. Find out from your host how many people will be at the party and plan to serve that many plus 20% more. There’s nothing worse than standing at the end of the line and missing out on a dish because there wasn’t enough to go around.
• Don’t forget presentation. Just because you’re serving at a potluck doesn’t mean you can’t have a pretty presentation. Consider how you’d serve the dish at home and think about how you might replicate that at the potluck without sacrificing your best china or having to arrive 2 hours early. I have a collection of high-quality plastic presentation dishes specifically for serving at potlucks. They are durable and I won’t be heartbroken if I lose one along the way.
• Plan for transportation. Consider how you’ll get your dish to the potluck, particularly if you have to keep it warm or cool. Remember that you can assemble your final dish at the potluck so package elements separately if necessary and put them all together when you get there.
• Be kind to your host by bringing everything you’ll need to plate and serve your dish. At a lunch recently a dining companion told me she’d hosted a potluck party for 30 people and almost none of them had thought about serving the dishes they brought, so she was left scrambling at the last minute. To avoid this plan to bring:
  • A serving dish which is probably different from the one that will get your food to its destination.
  • Serving utensils.
  • Garnishes and final seasonings.

Given all of these strategies, the dishes I chose for my various potluck events included:

• Sweet-’n'-Salty Honey Cheese Spread
  from Southern Living magazine. With only three ingredients (plush garnish) this recipe provides a great opportunity to showcase great goat cheese and honey. I choose local Pure Luck goat cheese which is some of the best you’ll ever taste and Tupelo Honey. An imported orange blossom honey would have been nice as well. With this dish, tasters get to experience high-quality ingredients they may or may not have had before, which is a great gift to give to anyone. This dish holds well at room temperature, lends itself to pretty plating, and travels well (plan to plate at your destination). It also has a make-ahead component and is almost silly-easy to put together. You can roll the goat cheese in sunflower seeds a few hours before the party and finish assembly and garnish at the party.
• Prosciutto-Wrapped Dates with Marcona Almonds and Manchego Cheese. Dates stuffed with nuts and cheese then wrapped in pig meat are a classic appetizer that can be elevated to amazing when you choose great ingredients. Prosciutto de Parma, Marcona almonds, and artisan manchego cheese are best-of-the-best ingredients that come together to create taste experiences. These taste great right out of the oven or at room temperature. You can assemble these up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerate. Cook them for 10 minutes just before you leave for the party and transport in a warm carrier or consult with your host and possibly cook them on-site, but only if you ask first.
• Spring Pasta Salad. Sometimes the oldies but goodies are perfect for a potluck because they are comfortable and expected by the crowd. My mom has been making the pasta salad for potlucks since I was a kid and it’s always well received. You can make it up to 12 hours in advance and take advantage of whatever fresh product you have available at the time. It scales easily to feed a few or a bunch of people and you can make it visually interesting by choosing a fun pasta shape. We simplify the recipe even further by using bottled dressing, but you can just as easily use your favorite vinaigrette. Because this recipe is mayo-free it holds well and it’s easy to transport. For serving, pile it on a beautiful platter, toss on some parsley sprigs and you’re done.

Learn more about prosciutto

Recipe: Prosciutto-Wrapped Dates with Marcona Almonds and Manchego Cheese

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Makes: 30
• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook Time: 10 min
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 1 each, 5.5 for 4

Ingredients

• 30 pitted dates, (about 8 oz.)
• 4 oz. good quality manchego cheese, cut in to ¼ in. cubes
• 30 marcona almonds (about 4 oz.)
• 12 thin slices prosciutto (about 3 oz.), each cut into 3 long strips, for a total of 36 strips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut through one long side of each date so it opens like a book for stuffing. Be careful not to cut the date fully in half.
3. Place one cube of cheese and one marcona almond side-by-side in the open date.
4. Wrap the stuffed date in a strip of prosciutto and place seam side down on a baking pan.
5. Repeat with remaining dates, almonds, cheese, and prosciutto.
6. Roast the dates for 8-10 minutes or until the prosciutto is crispy and the cheese begins to melt.
7. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe for Success

• Not every date in your package will be the right size for stuffing and you’ll probably lose a few to breakage, so start with two packages to find your 30 best dates and expect to have a few leftovers. They’re great on salads or for snacking.
• Every strip of prosciutto will not necessary cooperate with the rolling process which is why the recipe calls for a few extra slices of prosciutto. Consider the leftovers treats for the cook.
• You can stuff and wrap the dates up to 24 hours in advance. Bake them just before serving or porting to a potluck.

Recipe: Spring Pasta Salad

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 8-12
• Prep Time: 40 min
• Cook Time: According to pasta package directions

Ingredients

• 2 medium carrots, cut into ¼ inch slices
• 1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 8 oz. package pasta in the shape of your choice
• Cooking spray
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 English cucumber, chopped
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup. shelled edamame, cooked according to package directions and drained
• ½ bottle (or so) of your favorite bottled vinaigrette or Italian dressing
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a big pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
2. Blanch the carrot slices and asparagus pieces for about 2 minutes. Scoop them from the boiling water and shock in ice water to stop the cooking. Don’t discard the boiling water as you’ll use it for the pasta.
3. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta and coat lightly with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Let cool to room temperature.
4. Combine the pasta and all prepared vegetables in a large bowl and toss lightly to combine.
5. Add ½ cup of the dressing to the pasta and vegetables and stir to coat. Add additional dressing in small amounts until all of the pasta and vegetables are lightly coated with dressing.
6. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste (if needed).

Recipe for Success

• Use whatever shape pasta that strikes your fancy. Have fun with it. You can also use whole wheat pasta to make the dish more fiber-rich.
• You can make this salad up to 12 hours ahead. Store in the refrigerator before setting out for service.
• The combination of veggies in the recipe is my favorite but you can use any combination you like. Try for a mix of colors, flavors, and sizes. Some other good options include broccoli, green peas, other colors of bell pepper, and red onion. You could also narrow the selection down to a single color (cucumber, edamame, and asparagus for example) for a more focused taste and look. Also, try tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and cubes of mozzarella cheese for a take on a traditional salad.
• Watery vegetables can make this salad watery, which is why I use grape tomatoes and English cucumbers. If you want to use a regular tomato or cucumber, seed them first to keep the water content down.
• Don’t dress this salad until the pasta has cooled or it will look greasy. The type of pasta you use and your personal preferences will guide how much dressing to use. Be careful not to over-dress the salad. If you make the ahead, plan to add a bit more dressing just before service because the pasta will absorb the dressing over the course of a few hours.
• I use bottled vinaigrette for this recipe because it’s easy but you can absolutely make your own. Like many of my other recipes, this recipe is more of an approach than a recipe. Make it your own with the pasta, veggies, and dressing of your choice.